This article aims to provide a guideline to better decision quality on multi-company upstream projects. The scope is to provide a high-level overview of what should be included in a decision quality process, when companies with different levels of ownership and influence on the decision-making process naturally tend to have different approaches towards risks and decision management.
It is well known in our industry that there is a predominance of multicompany participation in these projects and the paper will provide guidelines that will ultimately provide better decision quality and participant's alignment.
Normally high-risk upstream projects have multi-company ownership. However, it has been noticed that companies tend to face decision management differently, which causes unnecessary delays on budget approvals and even operational timeline. Procedures to normalize the definition of an initial decision frame and creation of solutions based on a good set of alternatives are paramount to facilitate discussions and drive final recommendations.
In summary, companies’ alignment on decision-making processes is key to quality, speed, and effectiveness of those decisions and critical to project success. Alignment between partners on pivotal decisions can significantly improve project delivery.
The main results are practical guidelines for generating (a) decision framing, (b) strategies, (c) alternatives and potential consequences, and (d) logical analysis, partners’ alignment and commitment to action.